Tag Archives: Anaheim

When I wrote my post a few weeks ago about Bryan Murray being fired, one of the most familiar refrains I continually heard was that Murray pretty much built the 2007 Stanley Cup champions, the Anaheim Ducks.

This has been repeated so much by so many people that it’s basically taken as fact. It’s a statement that is used to make Murray look like a shrewd GM, and make it seem like he’s done a great job of doing the same here in Ottawa.

However, the statement is a lie. Murray had little to do with 2007 Cup champions. The facts back this up. The majority of that squad was built by other GMs, and even most of the core was constructed by other general managers.

Here’s a look at every single member of that team that won the Stanley Cup, and how they became members of the Anaheim Ducks.

Conclusion

So there you have it. Most people will point to the Perry-Getzlaf-Penner line. But that’s about all Murray had a hand in.

The Ducks won the Cup that year for four reasons.

1) The big three defencemen: Pronger, Niedermayer and Beauchemin all averaged around 30 minutes a night, and did a great job shutting down other teams’ top lines. Murray did not bring in any of those defencemen (or any Cup-winning dmen at all).

2) Their goalies were lights out. Most of the time it was J.S. Giguere, but no matter who was in net, they were great. Murray had nothing to do with that.

3) The Ducks had a great shutdown line in Rob Niedermayer, Samuel Pahlsson and Travis Moen. Murray brought in Niedermayer, the other two were brought in by Brian Burke.

4) Their timely scoring. It mostly came from three people: Selanne, McDonald and Getzlaf. While Murray drafted Getzlaf, he had nothing to do with the other guys.

In fact, of 28 players that played at least one game for the Ducks that playoff season, Murray brought in five of them. That’s it.

Murray doesn’t know how to build a Cup contender, and there’s nothing in his GM history to show otherwise.